Should The England ‘B’ Team Return?

In his column in The Observer at the weekend, this is a regular column for him; David James has called for the reintroduction of the England ‘B’ games – something that used to be a regular thing…

I am not sure if there have been any others in-between but the last I can remember was before the 1998 world cup, a game that Matt Le Tissier scored a hat-trick in. Then again the game that Rob Green injured his knee in before the 2006 world cup ‘might’ have been a B game too?

Either way though, you know what, I think the former England keeper has a good point!

James’ argument was that from U21 level and senior there is nothing in-between, so the chances of players being given an opportunity to develop into senior internationals is not really there.

At club level you have youth level and then, in most cases, a reserve team – and this reserve team is often a ‘bridging gap’ between the youth and senior side, that said a lot of teams prefer to loan players out now. Then again the loaning out effectively becomes the ‘new’ reserve team.

When it comes to England you play for the U21, usually up to the age of around 23 – due to the way the registration works – but then that can be that, which in many instances is a shame because some are not far off senior level but those in front of them get the look-in and they do not.

By bringing back ‘B’ internationals players that are bordering on full international level have a chance to play on the international stage, whereas the would not.

By picking a group of 40-50 players during the international window, and I would assume all would train together, you can get a first hand look at all these players in your thoughts and then watch them in action at B level.

Yep, I think that James has a good point and, despite the fact – like he said – they are not as ‘glamorous’, I think I would also like to see the B internationals return.

What do you reckon guys, do you think the B internationals returning would be a good idea?

As featured on Vital England (feel free to leave comments here and there, using your same vital logins on each).